AFTER A long hiatus, Galway folk-rock band Croí8 have released their new album, One Step Closer, the long awaited follow-up to their 2010 EP, Flying Through the Ash.
The 11-track release features music created through alternative guitar tunings, choral singing, and melodic phrasing. Lyrically, the album touches on failure ('Some Never Try' ), broken relationships, and physical and mental pain ('Stronger Than Pain' ), to more up-beat matters like dancing ('Open Doors' ), streetlights, the weather, and Galway’s city and culture ('Tribal Rivers' ).
For the album, the band - Maria Keogh (vocals ), David O'Keeffe (guitar ), Barry Hurley (vocals/percussion ), Sinéad Bracken (flute ) - were joined by Maria Delaney (violin ), Gerard McGrath (guitar, bass ), Cormac Corcoran (backing vocals ), Rhodri Ceredig (violin/viola ), and a choir from NUI Galway, while musician Liam Hurley inspired the opening track 'About Liam'. The album was mixed by Colin McDonagh of The Forge Recording Studio in Galway city and mastered by Steve Kitch of AudioMaster.
Among the most notable tracks is 'Frosty Actions', which begins with the sound of a swirling wind, the violin, and drums pumping out the rhythm of a heart beat, while a choir chant, "Why does it never make no sense?" while echoing in turn the phrases "Justify", "your actions" and "by your thoughts".
The album is available on CD at OMG@Zhivago, and digitally through iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, and Napster. For more see www.croi-8.net
